Geo Quiz 6-first 2 population readings.docx

The Demographic Transition-More or Less
-population is supposed to level out at a bit over 10 billion by the end of the century
-2 reproductive strategies (according to circumstances)
1. r-selectionproduce a lot of offsprings but invest a little in them (high infant mortality)
2. k-selection have a few offsprings but nurture them. (produce more grandkids)
-demographic transition is a shift from r-type to k-type behaviour
-Sweden-Uppsala Birth Cohort-14000 Swedish ppl born between 1915-1929
-raw data: income, SES, how many children were born to the cohort and their descendents
-r/k interpretation-rate of reproduction and the carrying capacity of the environment
-privileges show up in succeeding generations but in a non-evolutionary way (reproduction)
-explanation:
-the psychology which encouraged k-type beh is not appropriate in modern circumstances
-better hygiene, nutrition, and medicine, and free education, no harem-formation are all
changed now-disadvantages of r-selected have disappeared
Seven Brothers-An aversion to having daughters is
leading to millions of missing girls
-Sakina was dumped in Kotla, a village on the wheat plains south of Delhi
-the man paid 5000 rupees ($100) to a dalal (a broker)
-paro-female outsider in Haryana
-she had 9 children-8 of them boys
-the normal sex ratio for kids 0-6 is 952:1000 (girls:boys)
-India: 945 (1991) 927 (2001) 914 (now)
-fast growth, urbanisation, and increasing literacy rates have not affected this trend
-the ratio is most distorted in the northern Gangetic Plain-such as Punjab
-Haryana (direst)-830:1000
-worsening sex ratios in all but 8/35 Indian states and territories
-revealing the sex of the fetus is illegal but hard to enforce and ppl do it for as little as 600 rupees
-Implications:
-as Indians are becoming richer, dowries are spreading to places that weren’t’ practiced
before (such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu) and they are becoming more lavish
-encourages abuse, such as trafficking
-increasing number of poor bachelors they are sometimes abused
-Some positive points:
-sex selection may slowly be turning around. It is worsening but slower. (1.9% to 1.5%)
-sample surveys show a different pattern than the 10 year census (increasing ratio of girls to
guys) but this might be misleading
-worries
-that the sex ratios will become as bad as China (833) Coal in the rich world-the mixed fortunes of fuel
Why is the world’s most harmful fossil fuel being burned less in America and more in Europe?
-coal provides 2/5 of the world’s electricity
-in the past decade, the world’s electricity production doubled and 2/3 of the increase came from
coal
-at these rates, coal will vie with oil as the world’s largest source of primary energy within
five years
-in 2001, it was not much more than half as important as oil
-main factor has been China (overtook America as the world’s biggest electricity producer)
-China’s coal demand had tripled
-China’s domestic coal industry produces more primary energy than Middle Eastern oil does
-India
-coal demand is growing at 6%/year
-IEA believes that India could surpass America as the second largest coal consumer by 2017
-coal is falling from favour in America
King no more
-coal advantages-cheap and widely available
-but bad for health and environment
-America-coal is being burned less but not due to climate policy
-Europe-they are a world leader on climate but they are using more coal
-America
-upended by shale gas (cheap-$2 per million British thermal units-Btus)
-in 1988, coal provided 60% of America’s electricity
-2002: 42%
-2012: coal and gas were almost eq